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Government Claims for Clean-Up Costs Related to Cold-War-Era Contracts Rebuffed

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 10.10.12

On September 30, a federal court dismissed the government's claims for clean-up costs associated with groundwater contamination resulting from Cold-War-era Air Force contracts for certain rockets. Dismissal of the government's claims, which alleged perchlorate and trichloroethylene contamination, was based in part on "hold harmless" language in Air Force facilities contracts and continues the trend of recent decisions in cases involving the government's obligation to pay for environmental remediation costs stemming from work performed under government contracts.


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Client Alert | 3 min read | 04.14.26

DOJ’s False Claims Act Resolution Against IBM Signals Heightened Risk for Federal Contractors with DEI Programs

On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by failing to comply with federal anti-discrimination requirements incorporated into its federal contracts due to allegedly discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) employment practices. This resolution marks the first FCA settlement secured by the DOJ under its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, created in May 2025, and announced by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as part of the administration’s coordinated efforts to target allegedly unlawful DEI practices. Per the agreement, the settlement is neither an admission of liability by IBM nor a concession by the United States that its claims are not well founded....